Chinese-origin winner of Masterchef Italia says competition ‘made me understand who I am’
Italy has long revered its culinary traditions, sometimes to the point of stubbornness as anyone who has dared add cream to carbonara knows. So, when Anna Yi Lan Zhang won the 14th season of Masterchef Italia in February 2025, she did not just beat the competition, she carved out space for a more inclusive vision of Italian cuisine.
Blending ingredients like guanciale with oyster mushrooms and saffron dashi, Zhang proved that innovation and tradition could coexist and that representation in the kitchen mattered.
Born in Milan to parents from Qingtian in China’s Zhejiang province, Zhang grew up immersed in both Chinese and Italian cultures.
“I grew up learning the traditions and values of both cultures without distinction,” she told the South China Morning Post, adding that her culinary style reflected this duality.
“I use Asian spices and sauces and prefer a bit of soy sauce instead of salt. I like Chinese vegetables such as daikon but I also use Italian ingredients.”
Zhang’s winning dish, L’Eden di YilAnna, showcased this distinctive fusion in her approach.
Her time on the show featured dishes like My Journey, where tofu and shiitake mushroom dumplings were paired with goat cheese sauce and teriyaki-honey glaze, and My Mother’s Smile, a dumpling-ravioli hybrid filled with sea snails, guanciale and oyster mushrooms, topped with tobiko and saffron dashi.
While Zhang had spent much of her youth cooking alongside her mother, she only fully embraced her passion for food during the Covid pandemic.
Now that she had more time on her hands, she explored cookbooks – including one on Chinese dietetics – which introduced her to the idea of food as a form of self-healing. “I understood that I could take care of people by cooking for them,” she said.
Her approach earned Zhang unanimous praise from judges Giorgio Locatelli, Bruno Barbieri and Antonino Cannavacciuolo. The season ended with record-breaking viewership, averaging 889,000 viewers per episode and peaking at over 1.1 million for the finale, according to Italian media.
It also struck a personal chord with the chef, who said she has felt caught between two worlds. “I’ve always been considered too Chinese to be Italian and too Italian to be Chinese,” she said.
Her childhood was marked by attempts to conform to Western beauty standards, from fashion and makeup to hair colour. And though over 284,000 Chinese citizens were now living in Italy, according to government data, Zhang said she grew up with little Asian representation and few Chinese friends.
“I actually don’t have any Chinese friends,” she said.
Zhang credited her family for providing her with a strong support system and gave them her entire winnings of €100,000 (£85,691).
“Fortunately I always had my family and friends who made me think that diversity is not a limit but a strength,” she said. “It made me understand who I am under pressure. Now I know that I can accomplish a goal if I really want to.”
After her win, Zhang released her first cookbook, Pentole e Zodiaco, Il Mio Gioco da Tavola – Pots and Zodiac, My Board Game – in March.
Describing the book as “fun, like me” to ANSA, she said it combined her playful personality with recipes inspired by the Chinese zodiac. One of the featured dishes is Maritobao, a Chinese twist on the classic Roman maritozzo, replacing the brioche with a steamed bao bun.
In spite of the momentum, Zhang said she had no plans to open a restaurant just yet. Instead, she wanted to build an “oasis” in Sicily, her favourite Italian region.
“It’ll be a social project, at a local and national level,” she said, adding that it would feature fitness classes, Chinese painting sessions and guzheng performances, which she explained was live music played on a traditional Chinese instrument known for its expressive, flowing melodies.
“There are many things that fascinate me about China and I feel the responsibility to communicate it through cooking,” she said.
